it's part and parcel to the strength in oil that we've seen at session highs. u.s. dollar and euro are particularly strong. >> he said listen the crack spread in refiners is the size of my darier. >> which is giant. welcome to the "closing bell," everybody, i'm kelly evans down here in snowy, cold washington, d.c.. >> what are you doing down there? >> we've got a great show lined up. i'm not going to spoil it for you right now. >> you're going to tease us. >> that's right. >> i'm bill griffeth at the new york stock exchange. the dow was higher but the blue chip is now in the red a day after closing on another record high. maybe oil has something to do with it. we'll talk about that. nasdaq has been a winner inching ever closer to the 5,000 level. we're now 28 points away. the nasdaq higher now for 11 out

of the last 12 sessions. we're keeping an eye on oil. you saw that a moment ago on "power lunch" down to 48.80. it's been the worst performing sector on wall street so far today, kelly. >> meanwhile, huge news. the fcc voting to regulate the internet like a public utility. we'll hear about the opposing views on this controversial ruling. plus, a big line-up from d.c. alan greenspan and sheila bair and richard trumka. >> we'll get you caught up on the dow. it's down and s&p is down 9 and there's the nasdaq. yesterday, the first minus sign

that we've seen in a couple of weeks but up three points. joining me at the new york stock exchange kathy jones from charles schwab. we have heather hughes and jim lowell is with us today without a bowtie i don't recognize you. doug gordon and welcome back rick santelli there in chicago. i'll start with you, mr. market. while you were gone we had the testimony from janet yellen the yields continued lower, oil continued lower. what is the market telling you as you come back to work here? >> here we sit with a high yield, 214 and that was on the 17th of february. we settled last year at 217. it stopped where technicians thought it would. remember, october 15th no it didn't go away. it's still going to be in many

trader's memories. i would think we'll continue to be in a range that we settled last year and the 186 mark and an even more important issue is while we're up several basis points seven-year securities in the euro zone closed down almost negative one basis point. you asked me last week what was the biggest deal in front of us. it's going to be the ecb embarking on qe especially relative to the notion of how many securities they have to buy and where are they going to find them. everyone should read that op-ed describing how little issuance of new security is going to be out there for the pickings of mario draghi and company. >> not the most liquid of markets. >> that's right. >> thanks for coming. let's talk about these super low yields and where that leaves investors. >> yes.

as rick alluded to rates are still down at 2.1%. so would the feds really raise rates? i know all eyes were on the feds this week. you have mr. alan greenspan coming on within the next hour. we have the cpi index. the results this morning, up .07 of 1%. and although the unemployment number is at 5.6% it's higher at 11.3. i just can't think that they would raise rates any time soon. >> kathy, for years now, people at the end of the year as they forecast rates going into the new year have been saying we're going to see a substantial rise in interest rates, long rates, especially, and they have been wrong every single time. and it looks like they are wrong again this year. why? what's going on? >> it's a repeating pattern and i think that what people ignore

is this long-term down trend in inflation or a deflation now that we have around the world and that we have a demographic trend that gets us to a lower growth rate than we have in the past. so rates are going to be lower going forward than they have been in the past. i think this is going to be a typical cycle or average cycle and it's anything but average. it's far from average. >> well some things are clearly afoot. jim lowell where is the bowtie? what is going on? >> it's a really good question. i didn't run out of bowties, i just tried to remember how to tie an actual tie. in terms of the marketplace, as rick alluded to when you have the five-year bond in germany in negative yield being that investors are basically spending money to lend it that at least makes our ten-year treasuries anemic yield look relatively better. i think in terms of raising rates, we continue to expect the

fed to raise rates once once. at some point in time this year. but the thought of successive rate hikes as they have done in the past is certainly not something that we're forecasting certainly not this year. there are simply too many issues facing them. janet yellen continues to point to the fact that while the jobs are covered here on the u.s. are on a trend that is far from perfect, of course next week we'll get all of the unemployment data as well as the unemployment rate. we'll get a better sense of how healthy or not this jobs recovery continues to be. and that i think, is a real trigger for this thing. >> terry, i have to mention, an interesting correlation or statistic. paul volcker stands at 6'7" when he led the fed followed by as we know, mr. greenspan. he's about 5'11" and then we have bernanke and 5'8". the point of the story is if you put up interest rates over

the same period of time you'll see rates on a steady decline based on the height of who is leading at the helm of the fed. >> all right. >> unless we get danny devito up next and that's an interesting correlation. >> no, we need a basketball player next. come on. >> doug gordon, what do you do with that? do you look for a shorter fed chair or a taller one? >> i think maybe we're lucky that glenn hubbard wasn't the chair when ben bernanke was the chair. that would have raised it to rick's point. i think we're in a unique environment where it really benefits to be diversified in a multifaceted portfolio. what we're seeing is the most important events is tomorrow the gdp number wherein ven tors might lean lower and then it's the next fomc meeting as well as the nonfarm number. we've seen it deflect more positive momentum with respect

to earnings inflation but we certainly haven't seen it manifest in the nfp data so we'll look if something follows on there. >> doug have you completely given up? >> so 2% handle tomorrow? do you think we'll have a 2% handle tomorrow sir? many think we won't on the revision for fourth quarter gdp, that is. >> if we get the downward revision, the weaker inventory data, i think we probably will not. i agree with your comment, we stay range bound. it will be next week's nonfarm number. looking at that average hourly earning number and moving to the fomc announcement next month and the press conference that comes from fed chair yellen. >> is the treasury trading on that fundamental information now? are we at a point where it can pay more attention to fundamentals than fed policy? >> i think it has to pay attention to both, obviously. if the fed raises rates, that lifts rates across the curve.

we think with this environment, you know inflation as well as it is well below their target with negative yields in europe and deflationary pressures from abroad. so yeah clearly normally when the fed raises rates it's because the economy is overheating, not because we barely got to 2% on hourly earnings. >> that's what we'll have alan greenspan weigh in on as well. nobody wants to talk about energy. oil has a move lower that might be impacting the market and they are just waiting on this rebound, waiting for it to move back up. >> listen i think we're in a bottoming action. i this i we waste too much time on energy. we're going to have to wait until the average retail-type american gets the handle on if these prices are going to stay down or not so they can decide if they need the 50 60 $70 a month to make a future payment. >> that's a good point. >> we've got to go. heather, especially thank you for one of the more entertaining

histories of the federal reserve, i've heard. >> i do my best. >> that was great. thank you all. we're heading to the close. about 50 minutes left here, kelly. the dow continues to inch lower by 53 points. oil, as we mentioned earlier, is putting in a downward pressure. energy stocks are among the laggards. the s&p is down 8 and nasdaq is up 5 points. 28 points away from that magic number. >> we're watching that bill on this special washington edition of "closing bell." reed hunt will join us and robert trumka and alan greenspan and sheila bair. you won't want to miss a second. we're back in two. tigers, both of you. tigers?

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welcome back. dominic chu, what can you tell us? >> bill kelly barnes & noble is moving higher after the company announced it would split

its education and retail businesses into two publicly traded companies to help focus business strategy and, of course, growth. you can see the shares are up by 7%. and the energy sector has been under pressure all day long. ensco, a drilling company, cut its dividend and announced further job cuts. and finally, the big story today, of course the fcc approving net neutrality. the rule that blocks internet companies from putting in fast and slow lanes, that decision has cable companies, like our parent company comcast, time warner cable and charter moving lower. those shares are moving again to the red side. back over to you guys. >> dom, thanks very much. we get reaction now from both sides of this argument on this historic vote. joining us now is former fcc chair reed hundt. >> how you doing? >> they are saying that it will

ruin innovation and all and what do you say to that when this is an industry that has been full of innovation, entrepreneurship and they are going to be subject to the same rules and regulations that utilities are now? >> well i think if you're in the business of providing broad band access to consumers in america, you've got a great business. people are asking for more and more data. faster and faster speeds. the demand is getting better and better and the suppliers on the cable side or on the telephone side really don't have anything to worry about. they are in a great business situation. >> reed doesn't this suggest that if i'm somebody who subscribes to the internet and i'm paying for my neighbor's huge consumption of netflix? >> no, i don't think so. the fcc, specifically, first of all, said they are not going to rate regulate. you're not going to pay any more than your neighbor. you're going to pay what the cable guy wants to charge you. they have complete freedom in the marketplace to charge you at the retail price level.

what the decision did do is guarantee that you can pick the website that you want to see and the cable company can't block you and can't deteriorate the quality. >> that's a point, though that i was making which is that the cable companies have a complete leeway to set that price, not my preference but the preference for all subscribers if they can't move some of that cost onto the netflix-like companies taking up a big chunk of the content. >> eventually the cost has to be paid by somebody and what the fcc said today, the person that provides you broadband access cannot have a special deal with websites to give them preferential treatment. back in the old days when you would turn on the tv set, channel 5 and 4 would come across very clear, channel 4 was nbc, we liked watching it and the notion that rupert murdoch could buy his way to a brighter picture, you would find

offensive treating the internet in the same open way is pretty sensible. >> so how will the internet companies as we know them the giants like our parent comcast, we realize that but others like time warner and charter and we're going to talk to the number eight cable provider in just a moment here how will their business change do you think? are they going to make less money as a result of all of this? >> i think they are looking at such a demand picture that they are going to keep throwing more band width at more and more people. >> why are they against this then? >> based on what i've read and what i've heard, they kind of like the idea that the government wouldn't have anything to say about the single most important medium for communication in the history of humanity. >> do you blame them? >> that's a pretty libertarian attitude and i don't think they want -- 4 million people e-mailed the fcc to represent the consumers. >> do you think it would be important today, an all

pervasive and game changing as it is if government regulated it from day one? >> well you're asking the guy who 20 years ago had to make early decisions about the way that the internet would be regulated and we decided that you could connect a telephone line to your computer and get access to the internet. that telephone line was regulated the same way that the fcc is now proposing to regulate the internet. that didn't do any harm. that actually did a lot of good because that's when internet penetration began to skyrocket and it's been a fantastic story for the last 20 years. >> reed what would you say to those that say it will stifle innovation and shift costs to hard-working american families? >> i would say that the internet is a platform for innovation the like of which we've never seen before and anyone that wants to build a business that uses the internet now has a guarantee that the government will give them a chance to do so. >> on that point, we'll leave it

right there. thank you so much. appreciate your perspective because we're going to get the other side of the coin. in fact a side i just quoted from from our next guest. what does this mean for cable providers? you're the eighth biggest cable provider in the country and your reaction to today's ruling? >> and also a private company and before i start, let me say happy birthday to my wife. i should be with here and not here in washington. what i say, this is really bad. we've already seen this play out back in 1992 when the objective was to reduce prices of cable and, guess what prices have tripled. largely, because one part of the system was regulated, which was the distributors would never impose regulations on the side of the equation. this is exactly the same thing. this is a way for google to make more money and apple to make more money and facebook to make

more money while sticking the tab to the consumer that i serve. >> you know, rocco, what the fcc is trying to do is to stop the practice of intentionally blocking or slowing web traffic and creates these fast lanes. i can't think of any consumer who would be against that. there's an unfair and unlevel playing field when it comes to access to the internet. don't you agree? >> listen we agree 100%. we have abided by this net neutrality for the last 15 years. we are in favor of that. in fact we are highly supportive. what we're against to be regulated with 1934 regulations. i have no doubt, okay that i will reduce investment in our infrastructure and it will cause more for the consumer in the form of greater taxes, and by the way, more lawyers.

i would take me about, i don't know, about it2, $3 million. >> i was going to ask you, practically speaking what this rule today means for your business. >> well, on day one it doesn't change anything. but what i'm afraid of, even though reed -- mr. reed said there's no regulation what i'm afraid of is they could enforce those regulations any time they so choose under title 2. in fact a new commission could take the open city approach that chairman wheeler has taken and impose rate regulation in our business which would totally be uncalled for. so when a guy like me i'm a private company, i've spent -- you know, i own 100% of the company. i have 4,600 beautiful employees that i'm proud of. we operate in the smaller markets of the u.s. we spent over $1 billion in

capex over the last four years. i'm afraid if i don't know what the return of my investment is going to be i might think twice about what money i'm spending. >> the prevailing wisdom right now, rocco, is that this is going to be stuck in courts forever and it's going to be years before the regulations are put in place, in the meantime i'm wondering, knowing what you feel about all of this what are you going to do before these regulations go into place? >> well look we're not going to do anything. first of all, my understanding is this order was announced but we're not going to see the paperwork until a couple of weeks and then the lawyers have to look at it and we think we have three avenues of attack. first it's congress and i think that congress should be the one that makes the laws not three bureaucrats at the fcc appointed by the president. two is we have the courts and there's a very high likelihood that whether it's us whether it's our -- the phone industry

the wireless industry and, three, we have a new commission under the new president and what's good for them now, what's good for the proponents of net neutrality today may not be good for them when the administration changes hands. >> last question i want to get in here, if it weren't for this ruling, would you move to some sort of tiered pricing, a model where people are using more of the high bandwidth content? >> we've already agreed we're not going to charge for fast lanes and slow lanes. in fact the fast lane and slow lane approach having said that i think if i had to do this thing all over again, if somebody uses up my store more than somebody else they should pay slightly more than anybody else. interestingly, i'm getting a lot of complaints, if any, that some of my customers have to subsidize facebook and their usage.

by the way, two of our channels utilize 50% of our capacity. that's youtube and that's netflix. is it fair or unfair for the consumer that don't watch youtube or netflix to subsidize those people watching that? >> that's the question. we're going to leave it there. rocco, thank you so much. >> by the way you're getting no more strokes, he said. >> rt will. >> happy birthday to your wife too. >> thank you. >> 35 minutes left in the trading session. coming back a bit, down about 26 points as we head towards the close, kelly. >> yeah we've got more power players and alan greenspan, sheila bair, richard trumka all joining us. don't touch that remote. and we're gearing up for today, gap and j.c. penny and

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welcome back. dow is down 30 and s&p down 5. oil may have had something to do with that as it finished below $49 below a barrel. nasdaq still only 22 points away from nasdaq 5,000. i don't think it's going to happen today. we'll see. >> i want you to be here bill you can't miss that one. >> sorry. i've got to go to a warm climate for a few days.

i'm sorry. >> understood. buckle up everybody a storm is headed your way. dominic chu is joining us. >> it's warm in arizona and there are llamas. first up, jcpenney is expected to post earnings and a lot of focus on sales trends and comp store sales and how this turn-around plan is working. a plus or minus 9.5 move. up next gap, the clothing and retail apparel to earn 74 cents a share. sales expected to be $4.7 billion. we're going to cap it off with a check on herbalife, expected to earn 1.22 on sales of $1.6

million. the company is still dealing with a government inquiry into its business and the high and short position held by the hedge fund manager. >> thank you, dom. much more coming up on "closing bell." richard trumka discussing hourly wages and why he's promising to make it a key issue in the 2016 presidential race. >> yep he'll be watching all of the candidates on that. first up here is sue herera with an update. hi, sue. >> hi bill. a man prosecutors portrayed as one of the al qaeda's early leaders was convicted of conspiracy in africa. an anonymous jury convicted khaled al fawwaz in the u.s. embassy bombings. apple's ceo tim cook has said that a smart watch would ship

sometime in april. for more on that story, consider to cnbc.com. mark zuckerman is thinking about selling ""the new york daily news." and in a scathing report there was never enough funding to finish the job regarding the ebola.

welcome back. let's face it we're all watching the nasdaq these days. it's just a number but it does take us back to a number we haven't seen in 15 years on wall street. >> a number we've only closed a handful of times. the record high 1549. a couple of levels to watch in the recent days ahead. some retailers are voluntarily

increasing wages. it's a hot button issue and likely a significant issue in the 2016 elections. >> certainly will be for organized labor. joining us in an exclusive interview is richard trumka. welcome back mr. trumka. good to see you again. >> bill thanks for having me on. kelly, thanks for having me on. >> welcome. >> we had a large summit in january where we talked about raising wages. we had people come in from the secretary of labor to lizelizabeth warren and others. now we'll have one in each of the four primary states so we can have a conversation in those states and hopefully every candidate that comes in will get asked the question, what are you doing to raise our wages? what policies are you going to employ to raise our wages?

>> it seems as though corporate america is trying to respond or get ahead of it and we are seeing them raise the minimum wage that they are paying. isn't the market working? >> it's still way, way behind. what walmart did is a good first step. there are too many employees living below the poverty line and too many working part time. they didn't do that out of the goodness of their heart. they did that because of the collection action of the workers demanding higher wages. 5 million of our members are going to negotiate with their employers this very year for a raise. it will be from flight attendants to grocery clerks to automobile workers to postal clerks asking for a raise and for asking what they are really entitled to because of the productivity gains that they generated. >> it's no secret that organized labor has tried to unionize and

now we've seen this increase in wages. do i hear you say, to some degree, you're taking some credit for that because of the pressure put by some employees at walmart? >> well, first of all, bill we didn't fail everywhere. we organized a number of walmart stores and they illegally closed them down so they wouldn't have to negotiate with us. they've committed multiple hundreds of unfair labor practices in violation of the law. but not only are we taking a little credit but for the action of those employees getting out in the streets, coming together collectively and demanding a raise, they wouldn't have gotten a raise at walmart. >> we're talking about trends that might be taking root incorporate america and at the same time the governor of scott walker, he looks like a 2016 presidential contender possibly. this would mean what to your organization? >> it would mean lower wages for people in wisconsin and less

safe and healthy work conditions in that state. that's what happens when you pass these types of laws. these types of laws are never sponsored by workers. they are sponsored by businesses. they are sponsored by businesses to make the voices of workers less strong. >> but my point, i guess, is that if all of this is so good for the worker why are we actually seeing a trend for more workers to say i want this so-called right to work? >> it's not a trend of workers doing that, kelly. that's scott walker and a handful of republicans doing that paying off to their big donors. lower wages and reduce the health and safety in the workplace and as a result of that workers pay the price for the big donors' pay off. that's what you're seeing in wisconsin. it's not unique to wisconsin although he probably takes it to new heights. >> let me ask you, though back to the wage summit where you wanted to ask candidates or

people in the law making position what they are doing to raise wages. realistically, what can they do? how do you legislate higher wages beyond just raising the minimum wage? >> well you can do a number of things. you can strengthen the voice of workers so they can bargain collectively with their employer and get a fair share of what they produce. we've increased productivity over 25% since the year 2000 and we've gotten no raise. now, we should be able to keep pace with that. before in this country, there was a link between productivity and wages. our productivity increased, wages increased. one of the most important thing you can do is strengthen the voice of workers to be able to sit down with workers and their employers and there can be better conditions of employment. you can help with paid sick days, raise the minimum wage. we have multiple things that you could do, bill to increase wages and here's the bottom

line. if it increases wages for workers, union or nonunion, we're for it. if it decreases wages for nonunion workers, we're against it. >> understood. a final question on this point. it goes back to a criticism of fed policy and it's too broad and too blunt of an instrument to raise interest rates all at once. if you set the minimum wage that affects any number of industries and any number of completely different situations, business cycles, et cetera, that undermines the ability of companies to generate the product productivity that they need longer term. wouldn't it be better as opposed to trying to legislate things than to set things across the board? >> first of all, kelly, that argument has been tried, used and failed some 30 times. every time we raise the minimum wage they make that argument and it doesn't work. look, you have to have a minimum in this country. work has to reward people. you shouldn't be trapped in poverty because you work every

day. that's what happens with minimum wage so low in this country. think about somebody making tip wages right now. they earn $2.13 an hour. 77% of them are women. so that's an assault on women. we can bring that up or the wages can come up. it sets a floor for people. but if you really want to do that the best thing that has flexibility and allows an employer and that employer's employees to come together and do what is best for both give them a strong voice and it's called collective bargaining so that they have the flexibility to be able to do that. >> what do you see in 2016? >> we're going to be going through a series the whole process, sending questionnaires out to all of the candidates democrat, republican, calling them in asking them questions, our affiliates will be asking them questions and the first question is going to be, what are you going to do to raise our wages because we want to see what policies they are going to employ. >> on the left here a pledge of

some sort. are you going to get everyone to sign up? >> you going to support hillary? are you going to support hillary clinton? >> that's not a foregone conclusion. look, i told you the process, bill. we're going to invite all the candidates in, ask them what they are going to do to make life better for america, solve the problem, increase our wages and compare the problems that they espouse. we'll support the candidate that has the best policies and it most likely to raise wages for american workers. >> all right. thanks for being here. >> thanks. >> richard trumka of the afl-cio. this will be at the center of the to 16 presidential election. >> that is for sure. the dow is down 14 points. s&p down 3 1/3 and nasdaq is closer to nasdaq 5,000. we're about 17 points away. up next dominic chu highlights key stocks helping

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back from the bubble the nasdaq has almost returned to the 5,000 marker. it's taken 15 years. it's had big ups and downs along the way. >> it's so close. let's take a look first of all, we know the nasdaq composite is a market cap index. they carry the most sway. and the nasdaq 100 i decksndex has the largest composite. as we take this towards the 5,000 level, let's look at the stocks that you can really see the fire power happening for the upside for the bulls. the biotechnology and pharmaceutical set of companies, one of the biggest contributors so far for this nasdaq run. and amazon.com it's $180 billion in terms of market cap. a very large movement to the upside because of the amazon. and then of course apple needs no introduction. we know how much it's been a

factor for the market. here's the interesting part. what are the stocks that are weighing things down? if they could get their act together this year we'd be over the 5,000 mark right now. look at shares of yahoo! down 11% and at least with the nasdaq 100, they are taking away four points. because of its size it's dragging about 10 points off the nasdaq and then microsoft shares, they are only down 5% because they are so large they have a big impact on the overall nasdaq. these three stocks if they could just get their act together, we could see those levels about 5,000 and even towards those record highs, guys. back over to you. >> dom, thank you very much. kelly, it occurs to me that if the dow hit 1,000 for the first time back in 1966 and then it was not until 1982 that we got back above that again. so there was a 16-year period there. very similar to what the nasdaq has been going through here the

last 15 years. >> i'll take your word. >> well i know that twitter will correct me if i'm wrong. >> that's for sure. it's a good point as well. dom, thank you. although we've come this far in the nasdaq there are several bargains out there. joining me with the top three picks is jon najarian dr. j. how are you? >> don't you wish we were back to those go-go times in '62 with madman going on? >> kelly does. >> yes, kelly does because john ham, she's a big fan. as for sandisk, this was big in 2000 but it's continued to outperform. look at the penetration in ipads and the like because they make the flash memory drives sandisk does. i think the stock is very cheap right here, sndk.

i bought it because i thought it was so cheap. as far flash drives that you see in macbook airs as soon as you turn the computer on that's on. a lot of upside for this one and another one kind of related, guys would be qualcomm because they are both -- if it's not pcs and/or ipads it's cell phones and qualcomm cdma technology they have changed their mode to go from just going for that to some of these other markets. that hasn't panned out as well for them, quite frankly, it's just sticking to their knitting. i like qualcomm an awful lot. i think that is cheap relative to the market here. >> you're the second person who told me that viacom is also cheap. they generate a lot of cash but stock doesn't reflect that. why do you think that is? >> well i think this is one of those situations bill where you've got, quite frankly, some

in the red stone who is a fabulous operator but he's been there a long time and i think a lot of folks are just waiting for the opportunity when there's a changeover in the leadership there, i think the stock really gets a significant boost and a lot of the folks that are not on board with this one get on board once that happens. so i'm certainly not rooting for sumner to go away. i hope he has a long and lovely life. >> he already has. >> yeah, he certainly has. he's in his 90s. >> yes. >> but here at this point, i think a lot of people would like to see a change in that leadership and similar to occidental, you'd see a surge of money coming into the stock. >> we'll leave it there. jon najarian thank you so much. as we approach new highs there and across the market, in fact. ten minutes left. the dow is down 16 points. we're really watching the nasdaq. 16, 17 points away from nasdaq 5,000. and we've got drama at the close.

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welcome back. about seven minutes left.

the dow and s&p are down. not by much. we could go positive and end some records here. but the nasdaq is still up 19 points, now 14 points away from nasdaq 5k. chris is joining bob pisani and me on the trading floor. they are going to tease us for a couple of days aren't they? >> another day of out performance of the nasdaq. it's been up 11 of 12 days. i think we have a little bit of earnings fatigue going on. i think that's a healthy thing don't you think, chris? the markets are a little stretched and they have been up dramatically in the month, almost 6% a little bit of pause in the last few days. >> everybody is looking for those things. they are going to outperform the indices and there's a little more volatility and the s&p or the dow so they start to shift their numbers a little bit but free cash flow, it's still building and in fact it's building at a higher clip with a lower cost of that free cap.

>> you think there's a possibility we see a melt-up in that market. why? >> this is the early stages of that. that doesn't withstand the fact that we could get a 3 to 5% correction. europe is now getting off the floor. it doesn't mean they are going back to where they were precrisis but they are getting off the floor at a time when we're pulling the brakes back because the second half of the economy -- >> i know we need to break but the economy is deteriorating. >> the imbalance is to the buy side and we're coming off the lows with the dow down 7 points. who knows. we may close in the positive. stick around. we'll be back with the closing countdown and then after the bell alan greenspan, sheila bair both there in d.c. with kelly to talk about bank regulations, the economy, interest rates and much much more. stay tuned for that. you're watching cnbc, first in

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a little less than three minutes left. we may finish positive. we're coming back. the dow is not here but what is interesting, what is the market paying attention to right now? it would appear to be oil. look at this bottom that we put in here during this last hour and a half of trading. we hit the bottom right at 22:30

when the oil closed at the nymex. but it started moving lower when the stock market did. down 4% at $49 a close. below 49 earlier. oil is still in some days calling the shots for the equity markets. but earnings still matter of course. big ones tonight. jcpenney and gap -- now gap is unchanged going into the close and herbalife is up 4%. how do earnings look to you, chris? >> the low interest rates are not helping with the financials for example? >> one of the bigger excuses was the central bank drove this bull market, which you could argue that. there's so many things going on that if you put it out there, earnings are taking a nap right now. they are taking a nap on the basis when you drive out energy and financials from the broader s&p, it's actually moving forward.

and then when you have the dollar and, of course numbers have come down they started at 128 for 15. people put them down to 120. that's too low. i think they are going to see them ratchet up. >> if you just take out the stuff we don't like it's positive. >> thank you. another uncertainty. >> q1 earnings compared to last year are now negative compared to last year. and lower oil prices by the way. >> we're about 22 on our target which is 17 and our numbers are a little bit above consensus. the view that we have is growth picks up in the second half. you always get the earnings hit first from a fall in energy prices but the economic impact comes back from the second half. usually six months later. >> you're still bullish the second half of the year? >> yes. >> chris, good to see you.

bob, see you later. minus signs for the dollar sign for the s and perform&p. nasdaq, maybe tomorrow. we're only 13 away from nasdaq 5,000. stay tuned for earnings. alan greenspan and sheila bair with kelly in the second hour of the "closing bell." welcome to the "closing bell," everybody. i'm kelly evans. let's begin with how we're finishing up on wall street a session towards the 5,000 high. didn't quite get there today but turned positive. the russell is closing at a record high. small caps up a third of a percent. s&p and dow slightly negative. couldn't quite overcome the decline in energy. oil prices, i should say. energy as a sector weighing on the market to the tune 2% today.

joining me in washington now to talk about net neutrality and a whole lot more greg and sarah and jimmy. great to see everybody. joining us also michael fchl aarr and tim seymour. the nasdaq is -- what are we going to do it tomorrow? and is it all about energy? is that the reason we are down? >> let's look at the dollar. if you look at the move on the euro, big capital flows, heavy positioning. i think if you look at the nasdaq and look at the positioning, one of the things we're going to talk about is which of these names are a bit tired? and i think you have to get back to valuations. there's a lot of companies in transition. like ibm. i don't think anything gets better there. macro continues to drive it and one of the things that got the dollar stronger and pushed

everybody back including commodities, we thought inflation was something they were not worried about and suddenly they are talking about pressures. >> how about on a day that we have a huge drop in the consumer price index? >> the drop in the consumer price index is a secondary story. if you look at the core numbers, it was firmer than expected. it came in at 1.16%. janet yellen when they went to congress, i think laid out a new litmus test. it doesn't have to be 2% it just has to be going in that direction. today's number i would say, falls on the side of making them a little more confident and makes it a bit more of a sure thing that they go. >> do you guys agree, by the way? >> listen, you could have lost a lot of money betting that all of these fed actions were going to drive inflation back to the 2%

level. i don't see the need for the inflation for a while, even if it gets back to 2%. >> not this year? >> i'd actually like to see inflation at that 2% level and i'd be willing to get it a little higher. >> that's interesting, sarah. yesterday, the chairman told us that he would like to see the fed raise rates right now. >> he did. and they were pretty aggressive against janet yellen and accusing her of being overly partisan and overly political. it's an interesting tactic. there's no way in washington, when a group of lawmakers is that aggressive against you, that it doesn't have some level of impact on how you look at your job. >> and i just wonder this debate is going to continue forever, greg, but is it because the fed has to do things that make the fed uncomfortable?

or that would have helped the economy? >> maybe but i think we've moved past the point where we're looking for people to blame because the economy is doing really well. it's a shift in the makeup and disposition in the republican caucus. it used to be a very sort of like pro-fed and differential group of people and there's a lot of suspicion now, the size the reach, regulatory power of the fed and also great transparency. let's look at what triggered those comments from the republicans yesterday or the day before. it was the revelation from janet yellen's appointment book about how much time she was spending with these people. those sorts of requests and that information wasn't out there five or six years ago. i think in an ironic way it shows you the sorts of frictions we're going to see and in an audit where that information is ruin routinely exposed. >> michael, i want to get you into this conversation as well.

maybe like jimmy said it won't be any time soon or in march or june we'll get a seismic change. is that going to have a big impact on the stock market do you think? >> i think it will when they've actually going ahead and done something, we have seen stocks react but we had this battle on the fed right now because we had st. louis fed president jim bull lard who says that they have to raise the rates because it's an emergency rate condition. he wants to bump it up then and then go data condition or data dependent. if we are data dependent, the data are not strong enough for the fed to do much. we're benefiting from lower rates because of the stuff going on around the world in weaker economies. but today's markets didn't tell us a lot. volume was really light today. it was a really light day. it was kind of a meandering market and the fcc decision

unsettled some people really wondering what net neutrality is going to mean for stocks. >> michael, is that the right move for the fcc? >> not my area of expertise so i'm going to pass on it kelly. in general, i like less regulation. >> yeah, i figured as much. real quick before we get off this topic, though when you look around this market michael, where do you like? where should investors be looking? >> you know we had 52 or 3 new all-time highs on the s&p 500. this market trading above 18,000, is not cheap. so be very careful. i think you have to be defensive. this seems to be some sort of a turning point in the market as we look at what happens to oil. i would say, again, with consumer consumer staples i would be defensive. don't swing to the fences when things are expensive. >> greg what is happening with this economy right now? on the one hand we have people saying look at the market data

we're adding 300,000 jobs a month in some cases and then another disappointing gdp number and guys like greenspan that will say they are concerned about the long-term growth trend here. >> the divergence between the strong jobs and weak gdp is the productivity growth. this is something that people have paid far too little attention to since the 1970s. that's one reason why we have by all measures a disappointed expansion measured by output. but we have unemployment closing in on numbers that people think is full employment. it raises a couple of questions. first of all, it means that the fed has a -- for the fiscal authorities for barack obama and the congress, an economy that is going to be stronger in the long run is harder to get debt down. >> yeah.

today didn't help. this is another example of government taking you know a significant interest in a major industry and, you know it's a solution in search of a problem to me. and the -- if anything is working well in this country, it's been the internet. it's the center of social and economic livelihood and the government has signaled very strongly that it's going to start engaging very heavily in internet regulations. >>. >> it could be a while. there's going to be a lot of litigation and uncertainty. if this is something where washington is slowly figuring it out, the technology is going to continue to advance. if we have something beyond the cable duopoly, 3, 4, 5 internet options, you wouldn't worry about them messing with your websites and that day is coming. >> michael? >> just beware of washington. remember what reagan said if if

moves, they will tax it. they are going to get in the pants somehow and it's not going to be a good thing in the end. >> they are going to innovate around it. >> last point, we're celebrating nasdaq 5,000. remember when it took us there about 12 years ago -- >> cable. >> a lot of people lost a lot of money laying that cable but that experimentation was wonderful for society. just be careful, messing with the innovative system. >> and there is a column that everyone should read on net neutrality. tim seymour, thank you. more on "fast money" at 5:00. they are going to be speaking to rick smith, the taser ceo. you won't want to miss a moment of that. coming up here a line-up that includes alan greenspan, seant lewis fed president making

about breaking up the big banks. >> you wouldn't have the same factor but allow innovation and the u.s. could run away with financial services in the future and if any of those guys get in trouble, you could let them fail. up next, we'll hear from former fed chair sheila bair. and then former federal reserve chair alan greenspan. did it ever get that bad for greenspan when he sat in the chair? we'll find out, just ahead. ok, if you're up there, i could use some help. smart sarah. seeking guidance. just like with your investments. that sets you apart. it does? it does. you're type e*. and seeking another perspective is what type e*s do.

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welcome back. jcpenney is whack with quarterly results. courtney reagan is joining us. hi, court. >> that's right. there's a break-even level with revenues at $3.89 billion versus estimates of 3.87. so a slight improvement from the prior. bettering the estimates for the fourth quarter which was looking at 3.6% of an improvement. for 2015, jcpenney saying that comp store sales would be anywhere between 3 and 5%. that's a full year of 2015 and the gross margin will improve

between 50 to 100 basis points. kelly, back to you. >> shares under pressure there, courtney, down about 5% for jcpenney. meanwhile, break-ups are hard to do but according to james bulllard it may be a good thing when it comes to big banks. >> i think the best thing to do would be to have smaller terms. you wouldn't have the scale factor but you would allow a lot more innovation and the u.s. could run away with financial services in the future and then if any of those guys get in trouble, you could let them fail and they would tumble on top of you and crush you. >> joining me now for her reaction former fidc chair sheila bair. >> good to be with you. >> people say it could solve our problems as if we didn't have a problem with the small credit unions or all of these -- >> small institutions can do things too. no doubt about it. i think it's more about

complexity than i think it is about size. institutions fail all the time. you want to make sure that they can do that on their own dime and the shareholders take the hit not the taxpayers. when one institution goes down what's the impact on the others and the system as a whole. >> people seem not to be satisfied that the banks have the resolution plan. will it go to taxpayers if it's a thousand page long? >> i chair a group that we've been asking for greater transparencies in living wills. if the regulators want to release them or see the lines. i think there's been some progress there but not enough. another thing that dodd/frank required was credit exposure limits limiting the exposure

and there are still some things to be done that can make this a much safer system and one where large institutions, even complex ones, fail on their own dime and not hurt the rest of us. >> what about community banks which seem to have all of the support in the world and would be part of exemptions from dodd/frank as it was written. is this a good wise and prudent thing to be doing? >> yeah. listen, as i said earlier, small banks can do dumb things too. we really cracked down on the traditional banks and for the most part the community banks certainly were not part of the problem. they were part of the solution. they kept lending when some of the big banks were pulling back. i think someone said there's a trickle down regulatory impact. that's a good phrase to coin and i am disappointed. i think the regulators feel they are constrained somewhat. i've suggested that congress should give the regulators

discretion to provide exemptions to community banks for these rules. they are driven towards activities at larger banks, many that big traders were doing, nothing to do with the traditional banks that takes deposits deposits and loans. >> how serious of a concern is this? how many resources are devoted to it and when we get into the issue of small versus big banks, are we confident that the small banks are protected in this regard? >> i would say generally everybody should be focused like a laser on this and one of the concerns i have we're still struggling with the 2008-2009 financial crisis and are not forward thinking about these ongoing threats. this is something that board executives need training on and there needs to be clear ownership on it. third-party businesses that do business with it are secure. there's a whole host of things that need to be prioritized at the highest levels of the financial institutions and,

again, i hope that the lingering problems that we have from 2008-2009 are not distracting them from that as well. >> are things becoming less relevant, if you would, by either technology or changing ways in which we're transactive with one another? >> they could be. if you want to use pay pal or whatever, any of these internet services just like a bank account, iphone, you need a bank account. i think it can be a win-win for everybody. the ease for the customer is good and banks need to make sure that they understand these trends and fit their business model in a consumer friendly way to adapt to these changes but i think they can be positive. >> is there companies like jpmorgan and others shooting themselves in a foot? >> i think that's -- i was hoping you'd ask me that because i think what is going on there, this is a classic -- this is a

very rational thing for jpmorgan chase to be doing, given the regulatory incentives that have been created. my guess is that those deposits are going to go into mini market funds because we did not reform them so if they are invested in government facilities, they can still act like a bank. >> how risky is that? we know there are enhanced cash funds that are invested in crazy things. >> well, they are. that's exactly right. and this is in the fcc's framework but i pushed hard for, look, if you're going to have a stable value and dollar in dollar out, it needs to be a bank account. whatever the underlying assets are, it needs to float. it can gain value lose value. the problem is we can have an arbitrage of funds so you can do a money fund that acts like a bank invested in government securities, no capital requirements. >> there you go. >> so it's -- you know they are

doing -- acting rationally based on what the regulatory incentives are but i think it's a bad result and if we fixed money funds, we wouldn't see this. >> a final question about the treatment of janet yellen in congress this week. >> well, you know i think there's gamesmanship going on. the fed has been pushing back against the republicans and the fed has been saying the republicans are trying to politicize the fed. i think both sides are kind of overstating the case. i worked at treasury. it's long been the practice for there to be regular, frequent meetings between the treasury secretary and the chairwoman of the fed as is the case right now. on the other hand i don't support the bill but if they audit the fed someone is going to politicize the fed. we were an independent agent. i thought they were value added.

they were a very quality good agency one of the few that's maintained the reputation in washington. so i think that's a bit of a tempest in the tea pot, too. the fed is there, they are throwing barbs at you and they control your ability to respond. so i do think, whether as a republican or a democrat there needs to be some respect for people. i wasn't at the hearing. it sounded like it got a little bit on the edge there. i would hope at least they can throw arguments back and forth with each other but but cordial and respectful in the future. >> no punches yet. >> no. >> sheila thank you so much for being here. former fidc chair, sheila bair.

herbalife earnings are out. none other than herb greenberg is going to dissect what the numbers mean. coming up former fed chair alan greenspan is reacting to the accusations of janet yellen and where the economy is headed, when we come right back.

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welcome back. kate kelly is joining us with herbalife numbers. >> a pretty big beat in terms of earnings per share. they came out 1.41 versus an estimate of 1.22. a nice beat there. changing expectations, i guess. on the revenue side they were slightly missing analyst expectations in terms of a $1.16 billion in expected revenue. they came in with about 1.13. forward guidance some weakness there. they expect to see a big hit from currency rates in the coming year in 2015. that relates to the strong dollar. a big chunk of that comes from venezuela, which is an important overseas market for them. 80% of their sales come from venezuela. that is going to be an important thing to watch as we look through the additional details. >> kate thanks very much for now as herbalife shares are up almost 6%.

herb greenberg is rejoining us. what do you make of this report? >> well aside from the obvious, which is nothing really matters until we hear from the ftc, which is overriding all of this their active sales leaders actually were up. the company talks about retention. you could say that's a good thing. but if you take a look at volume points an important metric they have, continuing to fall and when you look at the guidance that kate was talking about, it's very important to note that they are talking about sales growth in 2015 being down anywhere between 6 and 9%. if you go back a year ago, they were talking about that being up 6 to 9%. also very important, in the company's press release, they talk about enhancements they are making. these enhancements are something that i believe is talked about. they are actually continuing to attempt to reset the model here. how they are hanging on to the sales leaders, the salespeople, i'm sure we'll discuss that on the call but other than the

earnings per share beat which has the stock up less than it was a little bit ago, as people start to digest these numbers -- >> right. >> -- it was an okay quarter and, again, it's going to end up as an ftc, do i have to tell you go again, we'll make a decision here. >> we're talking about the ftc and fcc. we got it. herb, thank you. we'll see if currency alone is enough or if there is something else going on. nasdaq back nearly at 5,000. does alan greenspan see similarities to the tech bubble 15 years ago? we're going to talk about that next. first, sue herera has an update. >> here's what is happening at this hour. two former microsoft managers says they were pushed out after they brought up concerns about sex services. microsoft dismisses the claims and say they will fight the

matter in court. a small coast guard ice breaker came through a few days ago but the wind held the ice in the harbor and then refroze. an activism fight is developing over at shutterfly. citing concerns about the company's acquisition strategy and composition. and llamas on the loose. you heard right. two llamas were on the loose in sun city arizona. the pair of one white and black dodged cars and rescuers as they moved from a field into a city neighborhood before finally being captured. it's not immediately clear where they escaped from. and that's your cnbc update. "closing bell" with kelly returns after a quick break. barbara just bought a bike. she wrote a tweet about it. you can't learn much from that. but take data from millions of tweets combine that with your company's supply chain and sales data. apply ibm analytics and expertise, and all of a sudden, you can learn which bikes to build

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welcome back. all eyes on the economy between the fed, the eurozone and banking industry, all long-time area of interests, my next guest, of course, a former fed chair alan greenspan. welcome. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> let's begin with the u.s. conflicting data. on the one hand we have what seems like a pretty strong jobs market, then disappointing inflation data and tomorrow maybe a disappointing gdp

number. where do you fall? strong or not strong? >> not strong. the key numbers are going to be tomorrow and everyone expects that the growth rate for the fourth quarter is going to be 2% which is a downward revision. to be sure the jobs growth has been very significant and if you look at the numerator of upward per hour which is gross domestic product and the denominator which is hours, which is very large, we're getting weakened evidence of productivity and that is the key statistic which tells how the economy is functioning. >> in fangt, greg just told us he was concerned about the weak productivity growth. it means less slack for the fed and for the u.s. a smaller

economy in the long run. >> well, it's a smaller number now. productivity is crucial and what has been happening in the united states is for a lot of reasons, which i've written in the book, a couple of books, gross domestic savings has been declining in this country for years and it's fundamentally caused by the data to show the very large surge in essentially the bipartisan push on entitlement programs. >> so entitlements are crowding out investments in this country and that's crowding out -- >> well crowding out savings and because the savings are the critical aspect of investment it's crowding out capital investment and capital investment is key to productivity growth that has

slowed down quite dramatically and productivity has followed right along. >> so what do we do? the move to audit the fed and do all of these things, is the fed the culprit? >> no. the fed basically is doing a number of things some which work and some which don't, one which has worked and is working is a significant increase in the amount of purchases of securities on the balance sheet, not to induce lending on the part of the private sector but to push rates down because if you take a look at the balance sheet of the fed, they have brought up very large chunks of treasury notes and mortgage-backed securities suppressed the real long-term interest rates and that arbitraged into a very significant increase or i should say a rising pattern in the way

of price earnings ratios, capitalization ratios all income producing -- >> that's what is behind this aspect, move to 5,000 back to those new highs? >> yes. >> so the fed is at fault, then? >> well it's not at fault. >> we've seen what has happened in the past as prices have shot up and there have been low interest rates and does this all potentially end as badly as it did the last couple of go-arounds? >> it depends. right at the moment equity premiums, which is a measure of the extent to which common stock is required to have a particular yield over and above riskless bonds, that number is actually average. it was extraordinarily high right at the edge of the prices

the highest in 50 years. it's come down a good deal as the market has gone up but we are not yet there in a position where it's a crisis. however, the real issue here is going to be when real interest rates start to move up it's real interest rates plus the equity premium which is the total return on common stock. >> and speaking of those rates, if we see a situation like we're in now where the market is anticipating that the fed will raise rates but longer term rates, the 10-year rates and 30-year rates keep falling, is that a conundrum? >> no, it's not a conundrum. it's an indication of how weak the overall economy is and a good part of what is going on -- remember european rates are lower -- portuguese rates are lower than u.s. rates. >> what do you think about that?

>> well, it's induced by the fact that it can't be a problem of liquidity, we have -- we don't actually have liquidity but a potential for a very large liquidity, it's got to be that the demand is extraordinarily weak. the fact the way i measure it it's probably tantamount to what we saw in the later stages of the great depression. >> that's how weak you think the global economy is right now? >> well it's not anywhere near what the problems were back then but we haven't seen anything like that since then. >> is that a policy response then? something that central banks, who have cut interest rates all over the map lately are supposed to respond to or is it something very very different and it ought to be done here? >> it's fundamentally the fiscal issues. it's the fact that we are absorbing all of the capital investment, not all of it but a substantial amount of capital

investment from the economy. if you look at the united states by itself we've had virtually no pickup since we've crashed into 2008. there's been lots of falls, the market was up and now it's down and up. >> the stock markets are up pretty significantly. >> stock market is up but the economy is not. >> right. >> but the basic reason why the economy is not, if you just look at the data is a shortfall in long-term capital investment. if you took structures and long-term equipment off of the gdp, it would be have fairly normal relative to the usual type of rises. >> so that's the culprit? >> almost all of the problem is in long-term assets. in fact assets in excess of 20

years. and to me you can pick this up very obviously, you can pick up what is happening by looking, for example, at nonfinancial corporations who have had very significant liquid cash flow. the amount of that liquid cash flow, they choose to invest in ill-liquid long-term assets is at a very low level and, in fact, in 2009 and 2010 it got to the lowest levels since 1940. >> and there you go. >> and that's where the issue lies. it's all confidence. it's risk and i know what happens because i've been before i was with the fed, i used to be involved in capital investment projects for corporations and what we are looking at is the fact of very wide variances of expectations on long-term projects because nobody knows what is going to happen out there.

we're dealing not only with uncertain tax rates which you can't tell because of the size of the deficit but we've got global warming, we've got all sorts of things going on in the middle east which don't seem to be simmering down. so that nobody wants to invest in the very long term. >> important point. >> and that's where the biggest weakness -- in fact it's where the weakness in the economy is in the united states and it's where the weakness in the eurozone is and it's essentially pretty much globally and it is showing up in a very significant spread opening up between the u.s. five-year note and a 30-year bond. >> uh-huh. >> that extraordinary rise in the discount rate as you go up year five six, seven, eight, nine, it is rising and that is saying that nobody wants to invest in the very long term. >> we have to go but i just want

to quickly ask you for your reaction to the acrimony if you will, over janet yellen appearing to testify at the fed. just from your own personal experience testifying before congress, is it always acrimonious or has something changed, in your experience since your chairmanship? >> it's always acrimonious. >> by the way, do you eat like a 6-year-old? that's what warren buffett said was the secret to his success, that he drinks coca-cola, adopts the dietary habits of a 6-year-old. is that the alan greenspan approach, too? >> no. >> are you more of a vegetable guy? >> warren's obviously been successful so let's not write him off, even on this issue. >> i figured i'd throw that in there. alan greenspan, thank you so much. up next we'll get a recap of all of the big after the bell earnings and the u.s. in cuba.

we'll meet for a round of diplomatic talks a few blocks from where we are going to be today. and coming up, why ending the 50-year trade embargo will boost our economy. we're back in two. can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready? ♪ ♪ can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing? ♪ ♪ can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver?

welcome back. we have the gap and jcpenney leading the retailers.

dominic chu is joining me. >> gap also announced a $1 billion buyback program and put numbers on the expected currency fluctuations and currency and 13 cents a share on the foreclosures. jcpenney is down after breaking even for an earnings miss. some same-store sales were up 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015. and then finally, we end on monster beverage after the company posted earnings that included 12% growth for the fourth quarter. as a result, sales are up 7% kelly, after hours. back to you. >> that's a move. thank you for now. meanwhile, raising its dividend the company ceo talks to us in a krchl cnbc exclusive. back to you. claimin' takes patience. aflac paid my claim in one day.

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case but every time we progress a quarter here canada's macro outlook is a little rocky. we just heard alan greenspan expressing concerns of his own. tell us what you are seeing in terms of loan growth the health generally and demand and increases in deposits here in both of those key markets. >> well first in the u.s. very happy with the u.s. business as i mentioned earlier, we had record earnings in our u.s. retail space. our margins are quite stable. we've seen terrific loan growth and i'm proud of what td is able to do there. we are outperforming on our deposit growth. so very happy in how it is turning out. in canada yes, there are headwinds. i think when i saw you last time, with what was going on with oil prices it's a negative for canada. what happens to canada will obviously impact us. having said that you know, the economy is resilient. we should do relatively well

given our concentration in ontario and the u.s. compared to what we have in the oil-producing provinces in canada. so, yes, a few headwinds, without a doubt. growth might be sluggish feel good with the business that we have. >> it's interesting, we were just discussing this move that jp morgan and some others have made to charge customers for their deposits. is this a business that still fundamentally makes sense, and why haven't you guys adopted a similar approach? >> well we are in the retail business. it would not be as sexy. we like to deal with customers. we are not in the wholesale deposit business. so for us when we do have a deposit relationship we have the checking relationship. it is fundamental to what we do. i feel the deposit business has always been good for banking. i don't think that is going to change. >> and what about the card business especially with the big news this week that costco is dropping american express, for example.

i know you guys support target card. what about the opportunities there longer term? >> we like that space a lot. it is an asset class that we are underrepresented. especially in the u.s. market. we are the largest card issuer in canada. you mentioned target. fantastic partnership for us. in fact, credit cards is a key growth area for us. we are looking for other opportunities should there be partnership deals available with other retailers. so very happy with how the business is progressing and very positive on its outlook as well. >> could be a real competitive advantage for the banks that do it right. to get those millennials and customers who might otherwise peel off from the bigger banks. what are you guys doing and do you expect your branch location to stay as large as it is your footprint here going forward?

>> mobile is a key part of what we want to do what we call the omni channel experience. you can start on the mobile device and go online on your desk top. we want to have that holistic experience. given our size and profile, we still think there is a huge opportunity. the plan is to open 25 new locations. so we feel very comfortable with both a store network and mobile space. in fact, close to 10% of our new accounts come through a mobile device. so happy with how that is progressing. >> 10% of new accounts through mobile. that is amazing. so much transformation happening. bharat masrani, thanks for being here to tell us about it. >> thank you very much. >> ceo of td bank.

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welcome back. the u.s. and cuba will meet tomorrow here in washington to continue the process of normalizing relations. closer to ending the 50-year travel ban. amy klobuchar, the democratic senior senator from minnesota, is one of the lawmakers leading the charge to lift the embargo in a speedy fashion. she just returned recently from cuba and joins us now in washington. welcome, senator. >> thanks kelly. it was a little warmer in cuba or in minnesota. >> i would imagine. what about relations between the u.s. and cuba? >> that's what was the most interesting. there's some hesitancy, i will say, to make change. the people are way ahead of that. there are now 600,000 people in the private sector that have started businesses from taxi

companies to seamstresses in their own homes and they are so excited. what i didn't expect was that every person would say one date to us. it was all over their artwork. december 17th 2014. >> which is? >> it means nothing to us. it is the day that both presidents said they were interesting in normalizing the relation. so you feel this sense of hope and entrepreneurship there, and that is what's going to carry the way, because clearly they have two currencies. they have had open possibilities for investment with other countries and some of it's starting to come. brazil has invested big-time in a new port which will open up new exports. and this new port is well-equipped for big ships, for exports. so there's so many possibilities. but the first step is the first step, which is the talks tomorrow. >> how significant an issue is this for us? >> it is a significant issue, and the senator's right, they do have relationships with a lot of countries.

my concern is do they have relationships with countries like north korea and iran and russia, who they allowed to open a spy base 90 miles off our shore just last year. and so we are, you know propping up a failed regime at a time when it was close to being toppled. and that's a huge concern. >> i think part of this is we have 11 million people that are 90 miles off our shore. and the same policy has been in place from the american government for over 50 years. and we haven't really seen the kind of change that we'd like to see with human rights. we met with the people from the catholic church there, from the jewish community, and i see one of the ways you change that when our country is so close is by gradually getting american investments so you don't see that dominating from venezuela and russia and these other countries. i say if we just close ourselves off from it we not only close off american jobs and american investment. my states farmers and companies, huge export very interested in the possibilities, but you also are not helping the people with cuba.

>> how automatic do you think that mechanism is between more economic freedom translating to more political freedom? i mean china they've been opening up for 30 years and they still have gulogs. how long is it beginning to take for cuba to be a politically free nation? >> well i wish i could just give you that time line but all i know is that right now we don't even have the possibility of influencing that because we don't even have an embassy, something that's being negotiated tomorrow. we don't have an ambassador. we do have personnel there, but we don't have an ambassador. we have limitations on how our embassy personnel, the people that are there now, can even travel outside of havana and we used to have the same thing with the beltway for their personnel. so this is at the beginning stages, but when you look at the fact that we've had this same policy for over 50 years, when there's so much potential for investment there, with tourism they have a very antiquated agricultural system that we have to also remember talking to a lot of our business people in

my state, it has hurt us in investing in latin america. it is always used as a reason they don't want to have the u.s. come in so it is bigger than cuba itself. >> we'll have to leave it right there to hand over to "fast money." thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> my thanks to the panel. that does it for us here on "closing bell." "fast money" begins right now. >> live from the nasdaq market site, this is "fast money." i'm melissa lee. your traders are tim, steve, brian, and guy. as the markets begin to take a pause ahead of nasdaq 5,000, we are taking a look at stocks close to record highs that it may be time to say goodbye to. plus a landmark ruling from the fcc on net neutrality today. we'll hear from one guest who says now there is no hope for the comcast time warner deal. but first, we've got to start with a big move in oil. falling more than 3% in today's session after yesterday's bounce. this as the u.s. dollar soared against the euro. you thought this was